Constellations of knowledge
How can we connect expertise drawn from different cultures, regions and disciplines ? How can we visualize contributions from citizens, scientists or institutions when they are numerous, multilingual, and diverse ?
Knowledge Constellations is a digital data visualization tool designed by Irénée Deckers and Constellation Sociale to explore, connect, and analyze human knowledge on a large scale.
At the intersection of research, international cooperation, cultural heritage, and citizen science, this tool transforms qualitative contributions into accessible interactive maps.
Why this tool ?
Today, knowledge is :
- scattered across disciplines and institutions
- difficult to compare across regions
- not very visible in public policy
- rarely linked to scientific data
Yet international organizations such as UNESCO emphasize the importance of the ecology of knowledge, intangible cultural heritage and citizen participation in social and environmental transitions.
Our tool addresses this need by bridging the gap between cultural knowledge, research, data science and citizen participation.
A new way to visualize knowledge
Constellations provide a way to visually represent answers to common questions posed to different communities or groups of stakeholders.
In the visualization:
⭐ Similar answers appear close to each other
⭐ The different answers appear far apart
🔴 A red star indicates the answer that is closest to the others
⚪ A white star represents the center of the constellation (the barycenter of the responses)
🔵 Blue stars reveal complementarities between practices
This approach transforms qualitative narratives into a relational map of knowledge.
It helps identify:
- cultural commonalities
- complementarities among practices
- emerging social innovations
- areas of cultural diversity
- collective dynamics
It is a new way of representing intangible cultural heritage, as well as all forms of collective knowledge.
Explore the constellations (interactive tool)
⏳ Please wait, it’s loading ! 👇
Beta version incorporating contributions from partner communities as well as data from documentary, scientific, and institutional sources available online.
A tool at the intersection of science, society and data
A Science & Society Tool
Knowledge constellations are part of the following approaches :
- Science with and for society
- Participatory research
- Digital humanities
- Qualitative data visualization
- Knowledge graphs
- Social innovation
Useful Data for Research and Action
The tool transforms human contributions into a structured dataset that can be used by:
- social scientists and data scientists
- public institutions
- NGOs and international cooperation organizations
- socially responsible companies
- local governments
How does the platform work ?
A collaborative back-office
The platform organizes knowledge into three levels :
- Topics (primary category)
- Questions (secondary category)
- Answers / Best Practices (tertiary category)
Three types of users :
- administrators
- organization representatives
- contributors
All entered data is automatically translated (FR / EN / ES)
Advanced visualization features
Users can :
- explore topics, questions or answers
- analyze datasets
- view word clouds
- compare practices
- identify similarities and complementary aspects
- browse on a computer or mobile device
A tool for many industries
Recherche & universités
- comparative analysis of qualitative data
- participatory research
- knowledge mapping
- interdisciplinarity
Heritage & Culture
- promotion of intangible cultural heritage
- citizen participation in inventories
- digital cultural mediation
- intergenerational transmission
International Cooperation & NGOs
- community consultations
- participatory assessments
- learning from experience
- intercultural dialogue
Businesses & Public Institutions
- multi-stakeholder consultation
- participatory innovation
- collective intelligence
- participatory public policies
From Prototype to Pilot Version
Prototype (2023-2025)
- Objective : demonstrate scientific and technical feasibility
- Budget : 27 121 €
- Funding : skills-based sponsorship from our partner companies
- Duration : 2023 – 2025
- Interested in this project ? Contact us to learn more and receive the prototype evaluation report, or to participate in the development of the pilot version (2026–2027).
- Project partners :
Pilote version (2026-2027)
Objective : to make the tool accessible to various sectors and regions.
The pilot version allows everyone (communities, schools, organizations and the general public) to contribute to and explore the skills and traditions of intangible cultural heritage through thematic and regional clusters. A complementarity module highlights the interactions between practices, while the platform remains moderated and supported.
The tool combines cultural mediation and technology (interactive visualization, knowledge graphs, collaborative management and multimedia) to structure knowledge, facilitate contributions and foster dialogue among communities.
- Budget :
- Founding :
- Duration : 2026 – 2027
- Interested in the tool or using it in one of your projects? Contact us to learn more and get involved.
... Exploratory prototyping for mobile apps?
The mobile app helps preserve, pass on and share knowledge related to intangible cultural heritage, with a focus on Indigenous communities.
Users can ask or answer questions, discover similar or different practices through interactive constellations, and engage in intercultural and intergenerational exchanges thanks to machine translation.
The tool combines cultural mediation and technology (Flutter, Nest.js, PostgreSQL, DeepL) to organize knowledge, facilitate visualization and foster dialogue between communities.
- Budget : 26 669 €
- Funding : expertise-based sponsorship from our partner companies, and funding from the association’s sponsors, mentors, members and corporate sponsors
- Duration : 2021 – 2024 – standby
- Interested in this project ? Contact us to learn more and receive the report on the exploratory prototyping (PoC) of the app.
- Project partners :
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– Site currently under development –
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